I have been very busy the last few weeks and, unfortunately, I didn’t have any inspiration to make and create new things. I hope to be back soon, but for now I’ve decided to take a break from blogging for a while. Knowing myself, I will be back :). However, my posts will probably appear less frequently, since I find that I have less time to create… Besides, I always feel that my posts should have some ‘new’-value: some topics you can find anywhere on the internet, so there’s no point in repeating that. But that is just my opinion ;). What do you think?

By the way, I will not continue to automatically feature my posts on facebook, so if you want to keep track of what I am up to: please sign up to follow my blog via email! You will get a notification every time I write a new blog post!! You can sign up on my homepage, clicking the button on the right. You can undo that anytime you like, so no worries! Or, you could just check in every now and then ;).

For today I want to show you my art journal pages 10 to 13, though! Everyone likes to see pictures, right?

I have been working on a small mixed media canvas recently! My first ever! I still have to take pictures of it now that it is finished, in daylight as I’ve promised. So come back later to see the results.

I guess every blogger has the issue of having a ‘writer’s block’ every once in a while, but as I’ve told you before: I don’t ever want to feel like I háve to write a blog every week or so. So, to stick to my 2014 resolutions: I will take and make more me-time! Sorry about that ;)

Hope to see you soon though, and keep making time to do something fun every day!!!!

For page 6 I’ve tried my new Koh-I-Noor water-soluble graphite pencils (also for the pages 3 and 4)! I drew this face after a photo. Just practicing my portrait drawing for this page. Unfortunately, my journal book is made of thick craft paper, which is actually perfect for acrylics and collage, but not quite suitable for using water colours: the paper doesn’t take up the water. (My next journal may just be a handmade book consisting of mixed-media paper or cold-pressed water colour paper ;).) For now, I simply drew the face with my water-soluble pencils in a 180 g grained paper sketch book and cut it out. If you don’t like your drawings, or just don’t have inspiration or time, you could just as well cut up a magazine or photos and make a collage. Then, I used my favorite multi-purpose (Scherning) Art Medium to stick my drawing to the page. It’s a glue, waterproof (though sticky) ‘varnish’ and paint medium all-in-one (comparable to gel medium etc.) so I use tons of it!! Then, add some acrylics (which will stick to the art medium very well) to hide the shine and glossy effect of the art medium and to paint the hair. I’ve used a white Uni Posca marker to add some text, which I erased a bit for the blog images… Sorry about that ;)! I told you I never use Photoshop to spruce up my images just for the visual effect, although for my art journal pages I do use editing software to hide my personal writings. Anyway, imagine some white text on the left page ;).

And here’s page 7! Remember the DIY eraser stamps I wrote about a few weeks ago? Then you have probably seen the right page of this one before. For this page I wanted to try my hand-carved peacock feather stamp and one of my doll-stamps.

For page 7 I felt like painting a bee (yes, it is supposed to look like a bee but it could just as well be a wasp, hahah). So, that’s what I did. I’ve stamped some stars as well; with a stamp I bought in the store. The rest of the background was painted with acrylics, using my favorite and least expensive tool: my fingers! Then, I stamped a few dolls on 180 gr grained paper and stained them with blending chalks, for a light pastel colour. I cut out the dolls and glued them to the page. Then stamped around with my peacock feather stamp. I’ve used water-colour pencils to add a bit more colour to the feathers. Surprise surprise: the Posca marker again for some text (which I erased. Again).

Here’s page 8! I felt like making a doodle brain. Or zentangle, if you like :)

For this one I actually took one of my human anatomy books as an example for the brain. I painted the shape with acrylics first and divided it into small areas with my Posca marker. Smaller areas are easier to fill up with different doodle patterns. Well, easier in the sense that with smaller areas I don’t feel anxious about starting to doodle and mess up my page ;).

And the last one for today, page 9, was inspired by my dear cats! For your information, this is one of the pages I don’t like that much, though I enjoyed the way I created it: painting with coffee!!

I painted my cat Punky with coffee on my thicker grained paper. So don’t throw away cold/too-strong/leftover coffee! Just take a brush and start practicing watercolouring ;)! The image may look familiar, because I used the same photo as an example for the coffee painting as for a drawing I showed 9 months ago. I’ve struggled with this page. It didn’t turn out the way I wanted and by adding more lines, colour and details I think I just made it worse. In the end, I did like the idea of painting with coffee, adding doodles on the page and using my sepia soft pastels to blend the glued drawing with the rest of the page. Though maybe this was not the most artsy day for me. Still happy with it though!

Still keeping up with my resolutions for 2014! Because I felt the most important of all was to take (make) more ‘me-time’, you will notice that I am writing posts on my blog less frequently :(. But, since this blog was never intended to be ‘a-post-a-day-blog’, I refuse to feel bad about myself for being busy and making choices. Sorry about that, though ;).

Anyway, I have been art journaling a lot: my new obsession, as you must have figured out by now… I’ve noticed that every few months or so I get this new obsession about something. Whether it’s painting furniture, crochet, embroidery, or in this case painting and drawing!

To inspire you to give it a try, I wanted to show you my first 5 art journal pages. EVER! Lot’s of images, little text again. There’s no need for text ;). Here they are!

I have to admit, I’m not the best at drawing and painting portraits ;). I promise, they get better! Anyway, I refuse to nót paint faces, since I want to get better at it. I just hope that practice makes them better. However, because it’s my art journal, I can make mistakes and paint whatever I want! It doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t have to be beautiful. It just has to be fun to make and to make me relax and spend my me-time on something I enjoy doing. I can tell you, it’s working ;).

If you want to start your own art journal but don’t know where to begin, you should really check out the Art journalist website. There is a group you can join on Facebook or follow by e-mail (I think), which will provide you with a journal prompt every week. It’s a 52 weeks long journal workshop!!! And it’s all free, hooray!! Go and have a look!

Happy creating this week!

Share this:

Vind ik leuk:

Last week I wrote down some thoughts about art journaling and I have to say, I totally love it!! It’s perfect for someone who, like me, would like to journal but never gets the words down right. And, don’t forget, you don’t have to be an artist to art journal! Unfortunately, art supplies tend to be somewhat expensive. The bright side is: if you have patience and take a bit more time, some things can be done the cheaper way. Also, if you like to use stencils and stamps (for example for a background, or to add detail to your pages), sometimes it’s really hard to find the perfect image. You may be spending hours or days looking for the right stamp… So, to start with, here are some examples of how to make your own stamps from erasers!

When I was younger, big erasers were sold anywhere, but at the moment they are really hard to find in stores here in the Netherlands… So, still looking for a bigger size… Anyway, my sister got me a lino-cutting tool for Christmas, which came with various knives. She got me two big erasers as well, which were sold in the same crafting store (apparently…). I really should ask here where she bought them, so I can get some more. Because: making stamps is addictive!!! For now, I started with the two erasers she gave me and a few smaller ones I bought myself.

The supplies you’ll need: a pencil, some erasers (I prefer the cheap, plastic stiff ones. Carving details in soft erasers is very hard because small edges will bend and break easily!) and a tool for lino-cutting.

Start by drawing a design on your eraser, with a pencil or a pen. You could draw your own design or trace one with carbon paper. I drew mine myself, though I did use photos of peacock feathers for inspiration for the feather stamp.. Below you can see two finished stamps and the ones I still had to carve…

Then, decide which parts you want to carve. Do you want a positive or a negative image? So, either carve everything except your drawing, or just the lines of the drawing and leave the rest…

Start carving :)

This one says ‘Handmade':

Once your done, try your stamp on a piece of paper. If you’re not satisfied with the look yet, you can do a bit more carving for a finishing touch.

If you are happy with the result, stamp your image on a piece of thick paper, wood or cardboard.

Here you see I made some background stamps, for example the coffee stain and the bricks. I could use the leaves, owl, little girl and butterfly for detailing as well.

Then cut out the thick paper to the size of your stamp (eraser). Use Art medium or mod podge to adhere the paper to the backside, so you will know what image the stamp will make. Make sure to glue it the way the image will look when putting the stamp down on paper (so don’t put it upside down or something ;) )

By gluing the image to the eraser with art medium/mod podge, you will be able to wash off stamping ink (only if it’s water soluble ink of course) or acrylic paint after stamping, without blurring the ink on the example on top.

That’s it! You can go crazy now with stamping anything!! ;)

Here I used my own ‘handmade’ stamp to make labels for my handmade gifts!

I stained the edges of the labels with Stazon ink.

And here is an example of the peacock feather in one of my Art Journal pages. There is white text in the page, but I erased it a bit… That’s kind of personal ;) Still a journal you know :P

You can use blending chalks (powder chalks), watercolor pencils or anything you like, to add color to your stamps.

Have fun making your own stamps!!!

I am starting on making stencils as well, so probably in a few weeks or so, you will find some examples of that :)

Although you will probably expect another furniture makeover or crochet project today, the last few weeks have been all about some artsy stuff for me. No pictures today! Just some personal thoughts, though you may not be used to that on this blog… Since I am right in the middle of some inspirational period (there’s no other way I can describe it) I am working on like ten projects at a time at the moment, without finishing any of them. Inside my head it’s a lovely messy twirl of inspiration and ideas and I am trying to figure out how to use this inspiration on new projects… I have been mostly drawing, painting and trying out a few new materials the last few weeks… Because, put simply, what I’ve done up till now was not creative enough to me. Call me a perfectionist or ‘too hard on myself’ but being creative means, to me, creating something NEW (and not copying others). Every time I actually create something my very own, gives me this great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, and that feeling is very addictive for me ;).

Up till now, I have been mostly using or combining other people’s ideas or techniques in a way that was not completely new. For every one of my projects I can totally see where I got my inspiration and ideas from. Of course that’s a good thing in a way, because we all need inspiration to get started with new things. Also, you don’t need to come up with new techniques that have already been used before, although occasionally you will by accident… Although I really enjoy working on all of my projects and learn new techniques every time, I still have this feeling that nothing I made is really, really mine, that I had not really used my creativity and make something completely ‘me’, using my emotions and letting go of my fears. The last few months I’ve been drawing a lot and it was driving me mad that I couldn’t come up with something that actually looked good enough to me. Trying to be creative while having high expectations and your head telling you it has to be perfect the first time, well, it kills creativity. With every ten to twenty sketches you will probably find only one good idea, but patience and ‘keep on trying’ wasn’t enough. I felt the need of something to keep my ideas and thoughts together and keep track of my (creative) journey in a book. Try to express my feelings creatively and trying to let go of expectations of what ‘art’ or designs should look like. Call it a journal, diary or portfolio if you will, but it should be something where I can draw and try things that are mine, that I actually can enjoy making, without feeling bad about myself because it doesn’t look perfect enough. Apparently it has a name: it is called Art Journaling and I totally love it!!! Look it up, it’s great!!!

To me, an art journal is a creative diary, which is all about expressing my feelings in a creative way, letting go of perfectionism and most importantly: to have fun making it. I had completely forgotten about how good I feel when I get to draw or paint (without expectations, that’s to say). To give the creativity and inspiration a boost, I have started an art journal a few weeks ago. To make a fresh start in 2014 ;) I don’t know if I will show you just yet, but as most things I do end up here on my blog, I probably will :) ….

By the way, if you go looking for art journaling examples on pinterest, google, youtube, whichever you use, try not to be overwhelmed by some of the ‘perfect’ and beautiful pages that you see. Tell yourself that most people tend to just show whatever art journal look good, and feel ashamed of what doesn’t and you will never see those (ten times as many) pages. So, keep in mind that you will probably find very little not-so-perfect pages (I specifically don’t use the word ‘ugly’, because 1. it is a matter of taste, and 2. there’s no such thing as ugly art journals: art should personal and as long as it has it’s purpose it’s just art. Although some pieces could be perfected in a way that it shows the ideas behind it in a better way (or techniques, of course), and the art will either speak to you or it won’t.). Don’t let what you see hold you back from starting your own art journal. Feel inspired, try out some techniques and media and decide which ones yóu like, yóu want to use and find your own style in a playful way. Go with the creative flow and see what comes out of it!

Once you’ve looked it up and want to give it a try, read this:

You don’t have to buy all the expensive materials you see others using right now, to start your art journal. Use whatever you have and buy something you really want one or two pieces at a time. Start by using a pen, a pencil, some acrylic paint, watercolours, pastels, whatever you already have and you like working with. Use plain paper to start with, or some scrap papers or packaging materials to draw on. However, you will find that there are some essential materials, depending on your materials of choice. For example, if you want to work with wet media, like watercolour or acrylics with a lot of paint, it will require thicker paper, whereas when you are drawing, you could use almost any paper you have, to start with that’s to say…

As you probably know, art supplies can be very expensive, depending on the technique you are using and, needless to say, the quality. However, some things can be done in a cheap way! I think I will show you how I’ve made my own stamps and how you don’t need stamping ink per se but use acrylic paint instead, later this week. So, come back later this week if you want to see those.

Some random ideas I’m working on at the moment (just a teaser ;), so let me know whichever you want to know more about so I know which projects to blogabout): I am crocheting a swirl ribbed hat for a friend (trying to figure out a pattern of my own), at the same time working on a recipe for all-natural PERFECT home-made deodorant, art journaling, making DIY stamps, trying out linocuts, cutting my own stencils and I am doing a makeover for one of our wooden crates, for storing all of my ‘TOYS’ (my electric tools ;) lol) using stencils and text.

Share this:

Vind ik leuk:

Back in 2014, wishing you all lots of creativity, inspiration and health for this fresh year!!

I hope you all have made big plans and (realistic) resolutions for this year ;). I know I have!

Today I want to share an easy way to make a roll-up-organizer for all those crochet or knitting needles. Any of you yarn-lovers know what it’s like? Working on your pieces a little bit every day, ending up with yarn and needles all over the place because it takes either too much effort to put them away or because you don’t have anything to put them in anyway?? I thought it was time to make an organizer which is easily accessible (because of the effort part) ánd looks good. Because I always want to try new thing, this opportunity was the perfect time to try out leather burning.

Start by cutting a big rectangular-shaped piece of leather, which is large enough to hold all your needles. Put them all on the piece of leather and make sure to leave some excess in case you may have to add a few more needles in the future… Then cut it as straight as possible.

Then, define which side of the leather will be the outside. Put that side facing down onto your cutting board. Take your crafting knife and make two straight cuts, right above each other, for each hook. You can see my first three sets of cuts in the picture above. Try whether the needles fit in. Cut them a bit wider if you have larger hook handles, like the orange one in the picture above, or for needle sizes over 10mm for example… Make as many cuts as you want, but make sure that there’s enough space in between every needle, to keep the leather from tearing out. In the picture below you can see what it looks like on the outside:

Take you hole punching tool and punch two holes on one end of the leather. This is where you will attach the button and string. You will have to make sure the button is on the outside of the leather. So the right side, which is facing outwards when you roll up the leather. I didn’t attach the button permanently, but you could if you want of course. Or you could use snaps.

Then came the fun part: adding details by burning the leather! I took out all the needles and took off the button and rolled out the leather. Then I drew on some letters to burn with my soldering tool. Which is not the appropriate tool of course ;) I know, but if you remember to use one soldering point for burning leather and don’t use it for soldering later, it’s okay. I chose a very easy design, using some stencils I had lying around, spelling HOOKED. It was just for practice. Pick a more complicated design or perhaps your own name, for a less cliche look ;)

And you’re done! Put in the needles, attach the button and string again, and roll up the leather. Wrap the string around the leather a few times and then around the button, so it will stay in place. And there we have an easy needle organizer which took only a short time to make!

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays and have big plans for 2014! On the last day of 2013: a Christmas presents reveal, and for me a little looking back to what has happened last year… And I can tell you, a lot!! It has both been a rough, and a very good year for me…

Although the Christmas days were a bit crowded and stressful, with everyone staying over, I enjoyed them very much (being with family) and we were all spoiled with presents again. For one thing: I guess not many women would be getting jig saws for Christmas, but well, you know me: I couldn’t be happier!

In the picture above (and the ones below) you can see the carved wooden vegetable labels I made for my brother in law. He and my sis want to start growing their own vegetables in the garden, so I made him some labels to go with a gift certificate: her can order some labels later, once he has figured out what to plant :)

For my sister I’ve knitted this scarf. I don’t like knitting at all, probably because I am a terrible knitter and because crochet gives a quicker result, but this was such a special yarn that I hád to knit it! The yarn contained thick and thin parts, and by knitting it, the thick parts were joined together just as the thin parts were joined together. You can see that a little bit in the pictures below.. Anyway, it looked really nice! I tried to crochet the yarn at first, but then the ‘special effect’ was missing completely and it looked too boring and messy, so I started over… Of course, I made some mistakes while knitting, ánd I had to stitch it together at some point. To hide the ugly parts, I made a leather cuff. I think it looks awesome and I am totally making one of these for myself as well ;). Besides hiding the mistakes, the leather cuff will keep the scarf from stretching. Also, she can take the leather cuff off at any time, but I think it looks better with the cuff on.

Then, I crocheted another scarf: for my grandmother. Someone told me she would never dare to crochet or knit something for her grandmother, since she would probably do a much worse job than her grandmother would. I took on the challenge anyway, and (luckily) my grandmother liked it very much!! The wool was super soft and fluffy, so you can’t tell it is crochet just by looking at it. It was a bit shorter than I would prefer, but my grandmother usually wears it single-folded, so a larger scarf was (I think) not her taste anyway…

Finally, for my boyfriend I made this embroided leather cuff. I thought of burning the leather at first (since I made my own design) but because of the dark colour of the leather I thought it would look better if I embroided it. My first embroidery job ever, by the way… ;). It’s not perfect (at all) but it’s the idea that counts, right?

Since it’s the last day of 2013 I will have come up with some good resolutions for next year quickly! And these pictures just made me think of another one: take better pictures for my blog in 2014!! Please excuse the terrible quality, hope you appreciate them anyway… I will do my best to improve it soon ;) Also, I will try and write my posts in both English and Dutch, like this one.

Have a very good new year’s eve and be careful with the fireworks ;) See you all next week!!

Welcome!

Hi!
Welcome to my blog: "DIY, Making Life Better". DIY-ing and creating on a budget is what I love doing and with this blog I want to share my enthusiasm with you. If you have any suggestions, questions, or just something nice to say: please leave a message or send me an e-mail at DIYMLB at yahoo dot com. Some of the posts will be in Dutch, though. Enjoy, and I hope to see you back soon!